44 pages • 1 hour read
Flora NwapaEfuru
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Gilbert returns to visit Efuru after a long, profitable trading trip. They discuss the dangers of the market; a pickpocket almost robbed Gilbert of his earnings, and Efuru has to be on the lookout for counterfeit products. As Gilbert leaves, he asks Efuru to visit him the next day. She refuses, telling him to visit her when he has time. After Gilbert leaves, he decides he is going to propose to Efuru.
The next night Gilbert returns and asks Efuru to marry him. He tells her to think about it and give him her response in four days. She politely refuses to go out at night with him, and he leaves. That night he cannot sleep, so he goes fishing with some men from the town and catches many large fish, which he gifts to Efuru. He comes to her house the next day to eat, and her cooking impresses him. As for Efuru, his fishing ability impresses her since few men in town are good fishermen.
Ajanupu stops by and converses with Gilbert. She asks why he is still unmarried, and he tells her the story of a woman he wanted to marry five years ago; her mother disapproved of the marriage. It was an unpleasant experience, and he did not want to think about marriage again for a long time afterward.
The next day, Efuru cooks a large tray of food, puts it on her best plates, and sends Ogea to deliver it to Gilbert’s house. Gilbert and his friends eat the food and sing Efuru’s praises for her excellent cooking. Gilbert’s friends tell him that he has made a good choice in deciding to marry Efuru. They mention that it is three years since Adizua left; they cannot understand why he would leave a woman like Efuru.
On the fourth day, Gilbert goes to visit Efuru as promised. She tells him that she will marry him.
Chapter 8 Summary
Dr. Uzaru comes to visit and brings Efuru a piece of Dutch printed cloth. He asks her how she has been and whether she plans to wait for Adizua. Efuru tells him she does not, and he asks if she has a suitor. She tells him about Gilbert—pronouncing his name “Giribat,” which makes her and the doctor laugh. The doctor asks about Nwosu, and Efuru says he is doing well. She tells him that there is a woman, Nnona, who has a wound on her leg that needs attention.
The next day, Efuru brings the old woman to the doctor, and he sees that her infection has eaten into the bone. She too will need an operation. Efuru buys provisions for Nnona to take to the hospital, and her granddaughter accompanies her to prepare meals because the hospital does not provide food.
Nnona is in the hospital for two months while her leg heals. When she returns, she goes to see Efuru at her father’s house. Efuru is out, but Nwashike receives her. Nnona praises Efuru and says how happy she is that her leg, which had ailed her for many years, is healed. She calls the white doctors “little gods” (Chapter 8, Location 2434). Nnona’s daughter and her husband visit Efuru as well to thank her. They are in awe of her and say that she has done what only men are capable of doing.
Ajanupu comes and discusses Efuru’s decision to marry Gilbert. She approves, but she reprimands Efuru for not coming to tell her first. Gilbert is there, and Ajanupu asks if his mother approves of the marriage, which he says she does. Ajanupu cautions Efuru that her new mother-in-law is difficult and that Efuru should do everything possible to stay on her good side.
That night, Gilbert brings his family members to Nwashike’s house to perform the wine ceremony and present the dowry. Nwashike praises Gilbert for acting “like a man” and doing things according to tradition.
After they are married, Efuru and Gilbert are very happy and go to the stream together to swim. The women criticize them for spending too much time together, as if they are flaunting their happiness. They tell Efuru that a wife should not spend her time looking glamorous while not fulfilling her duties, by which they mean pregnancy.
A woman named Omirima visits Gilbert’s mother, Amede. Omirima is a gossip who likes to sow discord, and she casually brings up the issue of Gilbert and Efuru being seen together at the stream. Her objections surprise Amede, who does not see anything wrong with their behavior. Omirima tells Amede to find out if Efuru can have children so that they can find a second wife for Gilbert if necessary.
On a trip to Ndoni to buy groundnuts, Efuru and Gilbert have their first argument when they are told to go to the next town. They take their canoe farther up the Great River, but there are no groundnuts in the next town, and the people there advise them to buy corn. Efuru is tired of paddling and thinks they should buy the corn to sell so that they can at least make some profit, but Gilbert is set on getting groundnuts. Efuru refuses to go further, and Gilbert goes into town and does not come back until morning, leaving Efuru alone in the canoe all night. In the morning, she again refuses to go further. They end up buying corn, even though Gilbert is unhappy with the situation.
Two years into the marriage, Efuru has not gotten pregnant. She speaks with Amede and agrees to see Dr. Uzaru in Onicha.
Chapter 9 Summary
Efuru has been having strange dreams about Uhamiri, the goddess of the lake. She goes to her father for advice. While she is there, he asks if she has become pregnant, and she answers no. She has gone to a doctor, and her father suggests going to a dibia as well. Nwashike tells her that the goddess has chosen Efuru to be one of her followers. He also tells her that her mother had similar dreams. A dibia confirms this and tells Efuru what she must do to worship the goddess correctly. Efuru is worried about the consequences of becoming a worshipper of Uhamiri because the other women who worship her do not have children.
Meanwhile, Gilbert has been staying out later. He does not ignore her as Adizua did, but he does not tell her where he has been. He does not take Efuru seriously at first when she tells him about her visit to her father, which annoys her, but he is receptive when she talks about visiting a dibia. Gilbert thinks it is a good idea to settle the matter and move forward.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
The plot points of this section establish the second half of the novel’s narrative arc. The main events are Efuru’s marriage to Gilbert and her decision to worship Uhamiri.
Efuru’s marriage to Gilbert is in many ways the opposite of her marriage to Adizua. Gilbert is responsible and mature. He conducts the marriage rituals properly, including having a dowry prepared to give to Efuru’s father. Nwashike approves of the marriage, and even though it is Efuru’s second, her in-laws and the other townspeople approve of it as well.
An undercurrent that produces tension is the question of what will happen if Adizua returns and whether Efuru should wait for him. The question further develops the theme of what it means to be a woman because Efuru faces a choice about how to fulfill her wifely duties. Ossai and Ajanupu serve as counterexamples. Ossai has remained faithful to a husband who repeatedly left her and has since died. Though this has caused her tremendous suffering, she accepts it as part of her duty as a wife. Ajanupu’s married life was also characterized by suffering.
Efuru realizes that she does not want to lead that kind of life. She is not averse to suffering, but she sees Ossai’s and Ajanupu’s suffering as self-imposed. For instance, after Ossai’s husband died, his brother asked her to marry him, but she refused. Ajanupu also had the opportunity to alleviate her suffering, but she chose not to. Efuru’s childlessness makes her decision easier. If Ogonim were alive, everyone would disapprove of her leaving her husband, even if Adizua never returned. Ironically, the tragedy of losing her child gave Efuru greater control over her life.
Uhamiri choosing Efuru as one of her followers complicates Efuru’s desire to be a mother even further. Efuru was her mother’s only child, and her mother also had dreams of Uhamiri (though it is never specified if she became one of her worshippers). Uhamiri’s childlessness makes her a double for Efuru. Like Uhamiri, Efuru is beautiful and comparatively wealthy. She has everything a woman could want except for a child. Efuru’s pain comes from the fact that though she is capable, she is powerless when it comes to the issue of her fertility. All she can do is see a doctor for treatment, which she does. She is skeptical of most dibias but agrees to see one if it will help her conceive. She even has a distinguished family lineage, which should ensure her good fortune. Her predicament speaks to the novel’s underlying theme of choice, obligation, and fate, especially as they relate to family and community.
